PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — You call the city Picks-burgh. The NFL announced that the Steel City will be getting the 2026 draft.

The draft is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of people to the city. It’s something they’ve been planning for some time and are excited to see.

Some estimations have the draft bringing at least 300,000 people to Pittsburgh. This past April in Detroit, it brought 775,000.  

“It’s going to be great. It’s going to be one of the biggest events the city has ever seen,” Strip District Business Association member Jim Coen said.

While the marquee is the player draft, there will be other events during that weekend. It’s estimated the city will see $120-160 million in revenue. According to Forbes, in 2023, Kansas City generated about $165 million, with more than 310,000 people attending the draft. 

It’s hoped the money will flow beyond just the North Shore and Downtown.

“All through even the Strip District, you’re going to see activities,” said Sen. Wayne Fontana, a member of the Sports and Exhibition Authority.

We may have two years to wait, but it’s never too early to start planning.

Restaurants and businesses are now starting the process of finding the products they may need along with adjusting hours.

“Just brick by brick, to just get to those goals you want to reach in two years,” Redbeard’s Bar and Grille general manager Brent Kightlinger said.

While the draft will celebrate NFL players, the goal of hosting an event like this is to sell the city to tourists. For many people, this may be their first time here. 

The work begins with promoting the attractions.

“They’re going to see our Cultural District. They’re going to know about our world-class museums [and] our renowned restaurants,” Sen. Fontana said over Zoom.

It’s expected any hotel near the North Shore or Downtown will be booked solid.

“Bringing all these others from other parts of the country and other parts of the world, once they see this city, they’re going to fall in love with it,” Coen said.

There will be plenty of prep work between now and then.

The city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to be moving closer to hosting the 2026 NFL Draft.

According to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones, there is a “strong sense” from the league meetings in Nashville this week that the Steelers and the city will be awarded the 2026 NFL Draft, with an official announcement expected soon.

At the NFL league meetings here in Nashville, there’s a strong sense that Pittsburgh will be awarded the 2026 NFL draft, sources tell @NFLonCBS. Announcement later today is possible.

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) May 22, 2024

Pittsburgh officially submitted its bid to host either the 2026 or 2027 NFL Draft back in February, and in late April it was reported by WTAE’s Andrew Stockey that the Steelers were on the short list to host the draft in 2026 or 2027.

Team president and owner Art Rooney II stated during a Q&A session last week at Acrisure Stadium during a community event that things were looking good regarding the bid to host the draft, and that the team was expecting to hear at some point this week. 

Now, that announcement appears to be on the horizon, with some potentially great news for not only the city, but the franchise as well.

Back in February, Pittsburgh officially announced its bid to host the draft, releasing a hype video in the process to make clear their interest in hosting the draft. The official bid to host the draft came after rumors of the city being a future destination started up last fall  as NFL personnel reportedly were scouting locations to possibly hold the event in Pittsburgh.

The bid is in!

We have officially submitted Pittsburgh’s NFL Draft Bid to host the event in 2026 or 2027.@vstpgh | @Innamo | @gainey_ed pic.twitter.com/cWY8VppX0j

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) February 16, 2024

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Then, shortly after the 2023 season concluded, Rooney started to make his public push for the city to host the draft, confirming the team’s interest, which is what the Steelers have had as a goal since the NFL began shopping locations after holding the draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

During the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, which saw more than 775,000 fans attend the three-day event in the Motor City, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hinted that Pittsburgh could be coming soon as a host city for the NFL Draft in either 2026 or 2027.

“They’re in the mix,” Goodell said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “I’ll tell you that. So that may be coming soon.”

Soon appears to have arrived. We’ll see if an official announcement is made today from Nashville.

If Pittsburgh is awarded the 2026 NFL Draft, it would have quite the economic impact on the city. According to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who spoke with WPXI’s Jenna Harner late last week, the draft coming to Pittsburgh would have an economic impact between $100-$150 million.

“We’re estimating there’ll be over 300 to 350,000 visitors that would come to Pittsburgh, putting an economic impact anywhere from 100 million to $150 million,” Fitzgerald said to Harner, according to WPXI.com. “And that’s I think being actually somewhat conservative.”

Fitzgerald might be a bit conservative there, especially with the impact the draft had on Detroit, bringing in an estimated $165 million over the three-day draft.

Rooney stated that having the draft in Pittsburgh would be the biggest visitor event in the city’s history.

“I think it’d probably be the biggest visitor event in the history of the city,” Rooney said in February to WTAE’s Andrew Stockey. “And so it’s very exciting. We think where Pittsburgh is located, not only will we have thousands of Steeler fans, but would have thousands of fans from all of the NFL cities that are, you know, let’s say within a 500-mile radius of Pittsburgh. So, I think it would be, number one, a huge visitor event for the city.”